Broadband technologies jumpstart rural economies

Month: March 2018

The FCC on Thursday officially signed off on SpaceX’s application to provide broadband through a network of more than 4,400 satellites the company plans to launch, John reports. Chairman Ajit Pai circulated the approval order last month, arguing that satellite broadband could help bridge the digital divide in hard-to-reach and rural parts of the country. In final text unveiled today, the FCC concluded that SpaceX’s plan is in the public interest. The approval contains conditions, such as SpaceX coordinating internationally and updating a plan to minimize orbital debris in the event that a satellite is retired or collides with other equipment in orbit. Billionaire businessman Elon Musk founded the company in 2002 and is its CEO.

Source: POLITICO Morning Tech

Let’s hope it works better than the current satellite broadband, which is slow and expensive with data caps.

President Donald Trump during a speech Thursday gave a shoutout to broadband as part of the administration’s proposed $50 billion pot of money for rural infrastructure. “Very unfair!” he said of broadband being historically “left out” of major infrastructure investment. The reference caught the notice of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a co-chair of the Senate Broadband Caucus and longtime supporter of an infrastructure funding carveout for broadband. “This is an opportunity both to rebuild our roads & bridges & to build a brighter future for our country through #broadband & other important investments,” Capito wrote in a tweet. “Look forward to working together on this priority.”

Source: POLITICO Morning Tech

Broadband is a transportation network for the products of the human brain, just like the road network moves potato from the field to market. We should treat broadband as critical infrastructure just like we treat the road networks which are critical to our economy. Moving the critical products of our rural brains to consumers is as important as moving the products of our fields to markets. Why is this connection so hard for our political leaders to understand?

Learn how inequities in broadband access affect the shared economic future of cities and their rural surroundings in a new report from the National League of Cities. [Link to report is under the Institutions Tab above]

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved an order last week to accelerate the national approval process for deploying 5G small cells, according to the FCC.

Small cells are advanced radio hardware required for 5G networks.

The order, which was proposed by the FCC under Tom Wheeler in August 2016, aims to loosen regulations on 5G deployments in the US.

Previously, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) were required to review small cell installations. Under the new order, the majority of small cells will be exempt from NEPA and NHPA reviews, while larger cellular towers used by previous networks will undergo a streamlined process.

As the global race to 5G heats up, the new order will be key in reinforcing the US as a leader in the next generation network for two key reasons:

It will accelerate the rollout of small cell installations.Along with streamlining the review process, FCC officials will now have timeframes to act on the review process. This will prevent approvals from taking too long, speeding up deployment of the more than 800,000 small cell sites projected through 2026, according to Accenture.
It will reduce the cost of deploying small cells.The federal review process accounts for nearly 30% of single small cell deployment costs, and the cost per review is expected to increase year-over-year with an inflation growth assumption of 3%, Accenture reports. Eliminating this step will save at least $1.56 billion during the entire 5G rollout process. And while just 0.33% of federal reviews resulted in changes to planned deployments, they cost providers $36 million in 2017.
The FCC is looking into other ways to accelerate the deployment of 5G networks. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced plans at MWC to launch new auctions of high-band spectrum in November 2018 to fast-track deployment of 5G networks in the US, according to The Wall Street Journal. To make this plan a reality, Pai must first get congressional approval by May 13 to allow the Treasury Department to hold pre-payments from US carriers.

That’s because big banks are no longer willing to hold pre-auction payments from carriers due to capitalization and collateralization requirements. Going forward with spectrum auctions will be key in keeping the US at the forefront of 5G deployment, according to a joint statement by US House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden and Representative Marsha Blackburn.

Ray Baum’s Act (H.R. 4986 (115)), a package of telecom provisions, was able to secure inclusion, Margaret reports. The telecom bill, the culmination of a bipartisan deal between House and Senate lawmakers, would reauthorize the FCC; free up airwaves for next-generation 5G wireless networks; and cover a funding shortfall stemming from a massive airwaves auction.

Rural broadband got a carveout: The omnibus includes $600 million for a new pilot program within USDA aimed at rural broadband, John and Sarah report. This additional boost of cash is on top of existing USDA broadband loan and grant programs.

The CLOUD Act is on board as well: The legislation (S. 2383 (115)), which has the backing of an array of tech companies including Microsoft and Apple, sets up a new legal framework for U.S. authorities to access data that’s stored abroad. The omnibus needs to be passed by both chambers of Congress by Friday to prevent another government shutdown.

The agency will take up an order today meant to drive down the regulatory costs for deploying 5G infrastructure by scrapping some federal reviews, despite calls for a delay from Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Democrats in Congress. The wireless industry has cheered the move, led by Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr, which would exempt from federal environmental and historic reviews the small-cell wireless antennas that will deliver 5G service. But tribes, which can charge fees for siting on areas outside of reservations, say the FCC is wrong to cut them out of the review process, Margaret reports.

Democratic Sens. Tom Udall, Maria Cantwell and Tina Smith and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan urged the commission to delay its vote over concerns from tribes, saying in a letter that the order confuses “streamlining with steamrolling.” But wireless trade group CTIA, which backs the order, said the FCC has found the right balance. “The FCC’s action is targeted and long overdue and modernizing the process will help deliver faster wireless broadband deployment across the country while still safeguarding areas of importance to Tribal Nations,” a CTIA spokesperson said.

Also up for a vote is a proposal for a database that businesses can check to see if a phone number has been reassigned to a new consumer before placing a call, and an order that would lift the personal-use restriction on wireless signal boosters so that businesses can also use them.

Oh, and speaking of 5G, the wireless industry is going wild for the newly introduced RAPID Act from Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), which directs the FCC to reexamine broadband deployments subject to environmental and historical reviews within a 180-day period. Carr lauded the bill for ensuring the FCC updates “outdated regulatory approaches.”

The Senate Broadband Caucus this morning is convening lawmakers and educators to talk about how closing the digital divide could help address challenges that schools, teachers and students face. Sens. Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), and FCC Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel are all scheduled to give remarks at the event. Tune into the livestream beginning at 9 a.m.

Source: POLITICO Morning Tech

I hope we can get by all the talking “real soon now “and get to some action. Please!